Addiction and depression

This was originally a discussion about Whitney Houston's death in the 'News Thread'. However, I have moved the posts into a new thread due to the length of discussion on this topic. Hope you don't mind me using your post as the starting point.

Whitney Houstons is all over the news but I just can't feel sorry for her. She pretty much asked for it. Some say addictions are like a disease these days. If it is then it’s a pretentious one.

Ease of access can lead to addiction in some people, doesn't have to be drugs, can be alcohol, nicotine etc. Drugs are addictive, especially so if you're vulnerable eg damaged/under huge pressure/etc.EJ, what the heck do you mean by "pretentious"? R u referring to "Heroin chic" or something, because I can assure you the addicts I come across are desperate people on the margins.

Nothing chic about cocaine or heroin it comes from having too much time and money. People become famous and get bored because they may have no real friends just hangers on. I am sure there is a lot of temptation to do drugs. Only the strong willed survive.

I agree when she married him it was a downward spiral. He ruined her career and his daughter may follow her mothers path. I just hope the girl has the sense to see the damage he did to her mother. I hope her mother's side of the family try to keep him away from her and let her lead a normal life if possible.

Those are still excuses. Loneliness is simply a matter of perspective. If you are lonely then do some volunteer work. Keep yourself busy. There are ways. There are options. Have you tried everything else before you got into addictions? I doubt it. The world as we know it presents us with many options yet you choose the one you feel will comfort you the most. Why? Because it's the easy way out simply put. In other words, you are being lazy and you need comfort right away. If you deny it, then you are still in denial.

See, nothing in life is meant to be easy and addictions are mostly voluntary at first. Any scientist or researcher will tell you that. Whether or not the brain is predisposed to addiction is still being argued. But that doesn’t mean that they will get addicted regardless but that they are more prone to it, but you do have the option to stay out of it. I don’t know if you know this, but it’s mostly common in developed countries. Why do you think?

In any case, all addictions are unhealthy be it food or video games or drugs or alcohol. It’s just that some are deadlier than the others. Even a dumb person would know that forget about weak and vulnerable. The fact that it’s voluntary first and you understand the consequences yet you go into it anyway makes it a strong case that of a pretentious one - unlike other diseases - where it’s mostly involuntary. Basically you are asking for a disease knowing fully well that this will eventually kill you and in the process, you are making sure you get this disease.

Life, after all, is a series of choices. Well mostly. And the choices you make will shape up your life exactly that way. You can’t possibly expect me to feel sorry for you when you pretty much volunteer to kill yourself. Never mind how selfish you are anyway. I feel sorry for Steve Jobs who desperately wanted to live another couple of decades or so. Could have contributed so much more had he lived.

You never ever want to take life for granted no matter how hard it gets. You do everything to keeps things in perspective. And know this, no matter what you do, you are still not getting out of it alive. We are all going to die anyway.